Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales Increased 60% In August 2022

Global passenger plug-in electric car sales continue to expand at a healthy rate towards new records.

According to EV-Volumes data, shared by Jose Pontes, some 847,580 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in August, which is 60% more than a year ago and not far from a record level (it's actually the best "off-peak" month - as the peaks are usually in the last month of a quarter).

Market share increased to 15%, including about 11% for battery-electric cars and 4% for plug-in hybrids. BEVs were up 66%, while PHEVs were up by 47%. However, according to the article, PHEVs outside of China are down 9%.

Meanwhile, conventional hybrids are finally up (after months of decline), but only by 6% year-over-year. That's the highest growth rate since March 2022.

Plug-in car registrations:

• BEVs: about *622,000 (up 66% year-over-year) and 11% share
• PHEVs: about *226,000 (up 47% year-over-year) and 4% share
• Total: 847,580 (up 60% year-over-year) and 15% share

* estimated from the market share

Global Plug-In Electric Car Sales – August 2022

So far this year, more than 5.7 million new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered globally, which opens the way to exceed 10 million units in 2022 (for the very first time).

Plug-in car registrations year-to-date:

• BEVs: about *4.1 million and 9.2% share
• PHEVs: about *1.7 million and 3.8% share
• Total: 5,780,291 and roughly 13% share

* estimated from the market share

For reference, in the twelve months of 2021, some 6.5 million plug-in electric cars were sold.

Model rank

The Tesla Model Y was the star of the show in August, with 64,780 units (best off-peak result). But BYD also can be pretty happy with five models in the top 10 (at least if we count BEVs and PHEVs together, as in the data source).

Top 10 for the month:

1. Tesla Model Y - 64,780
2. BYD Song (BEV + PHEV) - 42,522
3. BYD Qin Plus (BEV+PHEV) - 35,716
4. Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV - 33,877
5. Tesla Model 3 - 31,529
6. BYD Han (BEV + PHEV) - 25,994
7. BYD Dolphin - 23,486
8. BYD Yuan Plus (BEV) - 18,518
9. Volkswagen ID.4 - 17,246
10. GAC Aion S - 11,683

The Tesla Model Y remains the top-selling plug-in car model, while the next three models (Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV, Tesla Model 3 and BYD Song family) are now relatively close to each other.

There are six BYD models in the top 10, two Teslas, one Volkswagen and one Wuling.

Top 20 by the end of July:

1. Tesla Model Y - 409,378
2. Wuling Hong Guang MINI EV - 278,838
3. Tesla Model 3 - 268,157
4. BYD Song (BEV + PHEV) - 239,739
5. BYD Qin Plus (BEV + PHEV) - 198,326
6. BYD Han (BEV + PHEV) - 148,512
7. BYD Dolphin - 102,620
8. Volkswagen ID.4 - 99,880
9. BYD Yuan Plus - 92,776
10. BYD Tang (BEV + PHEV) - 79,211
11. Li Xiang One EREV - 75,397
12. Chery QQ Ice Cream - 72,094
13. Chery eQ1 - 68,153
14. GAC Aion Y - 67,793
15. Hyundai Ioniq 5 - 67,781
16. Changan Benni EV - 64,553
17. Hozon Neta V - 59,637
18. GAC Aion S - 58,471
19. Kia EV6 - 54,896
20. Ford Mustang Mach-E - 51,447

Brand rank

In August, BYD noted another huge record (over 173,000 plug-in electric cars - including 82,678 BEVs), which is significantly more than in the case of Tesla (101,778). Volkswagen is third with over 40,000.

Top 10 for the month:

1. BYD - 173,867
2. Tesla - 101,778
3. Volkswagen - 40,387
4. SAIC-GM-Wuling - 38,435
5. Geely - 28,911
6. GAC - 27,064
7. Chery - 26,586
8. BMW - 24,679
9. Mercedes-Benz - 23,344
10. Dongfeng - 22,626

The top three brands year-to-date are BYD (which extends its advantage), Tesla, and the SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture.